Humanitas has published the application process for this year’s Humanitas Prize and two artist development programs: the New Voices Fellowship and the University Screenplay Award. All three honors will be presented at a ceremony on September 9th at the Avalon Hollywood in Los Angeles.
One major change is that Humanitas will now manage the application and initial judging process for the New Voices Fellowship and College Screenwriting Awards, which were previously run in partnership with Coverfly (which closed last August).
The Humanitas Award was created in 1974 to honor “professional film and television writers who embody the art of screenwriting while exploring the human condition in subtle and meaningful ways.” Categories include Drama Teleplay, Limited Series Teleplay, Drama Feature Film, Comedy Feature Film, Comedy TV Play, Children’s TV Play, Documentary (Feature), Family Feature, Documentary (Documentary, Single), and Short Film.
Last year’s winners included The Pit, Dying for Sex, Sing Sing, A Real Pain, The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh, The Heartstopper, Patrice: The Movie, Inside Head 2, Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae, and The Cockroach.
The New Voices Fellowship is a six-month mentorship program for emerging television writers and screenwriters, and the College Screenwriting Awards recognize writers currently enrolled in a full-time college program, either the David and Lynn Angell College Comedy Award or the Carol Mendelsohn College Drama Award. Writers interested in becoming readers of the 2026 New Voices Fellowship and College Screenwriting Awards program can submit their entries here.
“We are excited about the opportunities presented by this cycle of programs,” Humanitas Executive Director Michelle Franke said in a statement. “The Humanitas Prize’s mission to showcase work that highlights the commonalities of our humanity is as important as ever, and the New Voices Fellowship and University Writing Prize will continue our work to identify storytellers who carry out this vision. The new platforms and processes we are introducing this year will allow us to do what we have long wanted to do for a long time: engage directly with the writing community as readers.”
Meanwhile, a new video statement component has been added as part of the New Voices Fellowship application.
Daniel Plagens, Humanitas Program Manager, said: “While screenwriting and storytelling aptitude are paramount in a career as a film or television screenwriter, there will inevitably be some public speaking involved during pitching, networking, and writers’ room discussions. Also, including a video statement component is the best tool available to measure a large number of applicants’ abilities in this field.”
Humanitas Prize event funding supports the organization, including the awards program and public programs such as food supplies for writers and the Writer’s Room. We also support Humanitas’ conversational event series Industry 101. The event continues this month with topics including film adaptation, writers’ rooms, legal issues in screenplay writing, personal branding, mentorship, fundraising, and more.
